A02 Race History & Shortcut Discoveries

Introduction

• Trackmania A02 Race: Simplistic track in Trackmania Nations Forever.
• Track duration: ~15 seconds.
• Track features: Left turn, big jump, right turn into the finish.
• Remarkable discovery: An unnoticed shortcut found after 14 years.

Early Shortcuts Attempts

Initial Records & Ideas (2010)

• World Record: 15.61 by Barry.
• Barry's strategy: Minimized air time on bumps by steering minimally on dirt.
• First Shortcut Attempt: Skipping the first turn; lacked speed for the ending.
• Promising Idea: William B's bug slide idea (fling car into a backflip and over the wall); initial run 16 seconds (slower).

Speed Slide Technique (2011)

• Discovery by Race Hans: Speed sliding after the car shifts into 4th gear; acceleration faster than straight driving.
• New Technique: Speed slide builds up massive speed before the jump.
• New Record: 15.57 by Race Hans; led to further improvements.

Continued Attempts & Limitations

• William B's Continued Efforts: 15.80 in 2012 (lost time at start; perfect ending).
• New Discovery: Early landing strategy by Rollin in 2017.
• New WR: 15.48 by Rollin.
• Improvements: Alien in 2018 achieved 15.44.

Tool-Assisted Speedruns (2021)

Development of Tool-Assisted Tool

• Dona Di Gu developed: Tool allowing frame-by-frame precision in runs.
• PlusRex's Experimentation: William's shortcut made theoretically faster; achieving 15.42.
• Further Experimentation: PlusRex and Sajrad found new techniques, achieving 15.17.
• Human Feasibility: These techniques deemed nearly impossible to replicate by humans.

Groundbreaking Discovery (2022)

Jav's Idea

• New Shortcut Discovery: Pixel-perfect approach angle on the jump; threading car between trees.
• Tool-Assisted Run: 15.19 by Jav; more approachable for human players.
• Immediate Results: First human run by Roland achieving 15.42 in 2022.
• Further Records: Hafest with 15.35, Roland with 15.33, and finally 15.28.

Reflection

• Possibility of Undiscovered Shortcuts: Continuous improvements and discoveries in Trackmania demonstrate the game's evolving nature.
• Encouragement for Community: Players are motivated to find new strategies.

Credits

• Big thanks to patrons and subscribers.
• Encourage viewers to watch for upcoming videos and continue support.